At First Light(Dr. Evan Wilding #1)(45)

“The who-what?” said Sten.

“Servants of the Dark Lord. Sten, how can you run a Nordic establishment and not know Tolkien?”

“Note to self,” Sten said. “Read up on Ringwraiths.”

“Otherwise known as the Nine,” Evan murmured, picturing the nine slats arranged around Talfour’s head.

He caught the faintest tremor ripple across Diana’s shoulders. It surprised him—he’d never known Diana to be afraid of anything, except maybe learning they didn’t hold the mayo on her BLT.

He tapped the back of his assistant’s hand. “You think we should be looking at Raven in relation to this case?”

“What case?” Sten asked. “Wait, are you guys working the guy who was offed by the river? ’Cause I heard it was a hinky one.”

“A purely scholarly interest,” Diana said, then turned to Evan. “No idea. I just don’t like him because of the aforementioned servant-of-evil aura. He all but radiates wickedness. Intelligent wickedness, unlike the rest of the group.”

“Inking a giant raven on your forehead doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do,” Patrick said.

“Maybe not,” Diana agreed. “It probably signals his devotion to Odin. He seems more serious about the Viking culture than the rest of them. Regardless, I don’t like how he lurks. And stares.”

Evan reached for his glass. “Everyone stares at you, Di.”

“Not like that.”

“Like what?”

She grew pensive. “When a guy stares, it’s usually because he wants to ask me out to dinner. Often in the hope that dinner will lead to other things. But this guy looks at me like he’d rather put me on the menu.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sten asked.

She slitted her eyes. “You think I can’t hold my own?”

“Point taken.”

“You have cameras?” Patrick asked Sten.

“You are working that case!” Sten cried. “And yeah, sure. We got five. Two outside—front and back. One just inside the front door and two overlooking the lanes.”

Patrick said, “I’d like to take a look at the footage.”

Sten licked ketchup and salt off his fingers. “You think you’ll know a Ringwraith if you see one? What do Ringwraiths look like, exactly?”

Another swat from Diana.

Sten rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll tell Marty to pull tonight’s footage from the lanes and send it to you.”

“We can’t look now?” Patrick asked.

Sten shook his head. “Sorry. We run everything through a third party. Our footage is uploaded to their cloud. It usually gets taped over every twenty-four hours because we don’t pay for a lot of space. But I’ll have them pull the footage and send it to me; then I’ll upload it and send you an access link. I’ll send the link to Diana, too, if you want her pointing out her Ringwraith. Will that work?”

“Perfect. Send everything starting from when you opened business today.” Patrick pulled a business card from his wallet and slid it across the table to Sten.

Sten wiped his hands on his napkin and pocketed the business card in his flannel shirt. With his fingers still in the pocket, he gave a look of surprise. “I almost forgot.”

He fished out something and handed it to Diana. “I found this little figure outside the front door today. You ever see anything like it?”

Diana cupped the wooden figurine in her palm. Her eyes met Evan’s. Although it was only a couple of inches tall, the figure was undoubtedly like the one someone had left for Evan at his office, right down to the painted eyes.

“It’s odd,” she said, handing it back. “Creepy, even. But I don’t know what it means.”

“Maybe it’s a voodoo curse.” Sten laughed and stood. “I need to get back to work.” He shook hands with Evan and Patrick, mumbled “nice to meet you,” accepted Diana’s hug, and vanished into the throng.

Diana watched him go, then turned to Evan. “That was weird.”

“Aw, that little doll?” Patrick asked. “I thought it was kind of cute.”

“Someone gifted Evan with one of those just this morning,” Diana told him.

Evan shrugged. “I’m always open to voodoo curses.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Diana waved a hand. “Someone’s weird idea of spreading a little cheer. Anyway, aside from Ringwraiths and voodoo dolls, what do you guys think of the place? Evan, I don’t believe you were assaulted as a maggot by a single person.”

“A maggot?” Patrick asked.

Evan pointed to his left temple. “I did take an elbow to the head.”

Diana ran warm fingers along his hairline. “I think there’s a lump there,” she said, her voice suddenly filled with concern. “I’ll get some ice.”

“Please don’t. I have a hard skull.”

“I can’t argue with that.” But she still looked concerned.

“How’d the cryptology class go today?” Evan asked, to change the subject.

“Fine.” She withdrew her hand, and Evan sighed. “They missed you. They seem to have you confused with a minor deity.”

“Minor?”